Text Size

OBAMA-RYAN MEDICARE SHOWDOWN TODAY — Well, the closest thing we’ll have to one, anyway. President Barack Obama is scheduled to address the AARP conference live via satellite at 11:45 a.m. today, and GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan addresses the conference in-person in New Orleans at 12:30 p.m. They’ll talk about Social Security, financial security and a little health care program for seniors known as Medicare.

--USA TODAY: OBAMA HOLDS MEDICARE LEAD — Obama goes into today’s AARP dueling speeches with a lead over Mitt Romney on Medicare in the 12 most important battleground states, according to a new USA Today poll. By a 50-44 percent margin, voters in those states think Obama is better than Romney on Medicare issues, and they’re slightly more inclined to believe Romney’s preferred reforms would weaken the program. More from the USAT: http://usat.ly/S7YTXs

Happy Friday, and welcome to PULSE, where we’re saying goodbye to the 112th Congress — until the lame-duck session, anyway. We’re sure you’ll all have just a few things to keep you busy when you get back. Sequestration. Doc fix. Good times.

“All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run, better run, outrun my PULSE”

--MEDICAID CONVO NOT OVER IN MISSISSIPPI — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has already sworn off the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, but state lawmakers aren’t done talking about it. Members of the Mississippi Joint Legislative Budget Committee said Thursday that they’ll keep the discussions open, even if most already think the state can’t afford the larger program. http://politico.pro/TaF2Oo

--JINDAL: ‘ROMNEYCARE’ AND ‘OBAMACARE’ DIFFERENT — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said yesterday the difference between Romney’s Massachusetts law and the ACA is that Romney has “consistently” been against a national mandate. On a conference call organized by the Romney campaign, Jindal hit Obama on this week’s CBO report that projected 6 million Americans will pay the ACA penalty for not having health insurance. http://politico.pro/QoKmKP

BROWN, WARREN SPAR OVER BLUNT AMENDMENT, TED KENNEDY — Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren’s first debate last night saw the two candidates fight over the Blunt amendment, which would have provided a broad religious exemption from the Obama administration’s contraceptive coverage policy. “Sen. Brown not only voted for it — he was a co-sponsor and fought for it,” said Warren, who described the Blunt bill as something that would “block insurance coverage for birth control.” Brown offered a sharp retort: “You should stop scaring women, professor, because I’ve been fighting for women since I was six years old.” Brown said the Blunt measure was in line with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s support for a broad conscience clause in health care. “I’m not going to pit women against their church and their faith,” Brown said, but Warren accused Brown of mischaracterizing Kennedy’s position on the conscience clause.

--WHAT THEY DIDN’T DEBATE: Medicare, “Obamacare.”

HEALTH CARE MAKES FIRST DEBATE — You won’t have to wait long to hear Obama and Romney debate over their respective health care laws. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that health care is on the list for the first debate on Oct. 3 in Denver. It will count for one of six 15-minute segments covered in the debate, but look for it to come up again during segments on the economy, governing and the role of government. The POLITICO Pro story: http://politico.pro/PtfEyh

--AND DON'T FORGET MEDICARE — It seems that just putting “health care” on the agenda for the Oct. 3 debate wasn’t specific enough for AARP. “We are dismayed that the outline for the October 3 debate omits any mention of Social Security and Medicare,” AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said in a statement Thursday. “Any meaningful discussion of the economy and this year’s election has to include the future of these critical retirement security programs.” PULSE could be wrong, but we're pretty sure Medicare is going to come up.

OBAMA: SECOND TERM MEANS IMPLEMENTATION — So, why does Obama want a second term? One main reason: “The opportunities that we have in implementing health care,” he said during an appearance on Univision yesterday. “I haven’t gotten everything done that I wanted to get done,” he said. You all know what that means, right? Broccoli mandate. Kidding, just kidding.

** A message from PhRMA: The biopharmaceutical research sector has reached a major milestone with $500 billion invested in R&D since 2000, and 370 new medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration in that same timeframe. What health solutions could the next $500 billion bring? Join us at www.fromhopetocures.org. **

ROMNEY ADVISER: ‘GODFATHER’ LINE WAS SARCASM — Romney made a few people scratch their heads when he told a Univision forum Wednesday night that he considers it a compliment when Obama describes him as the “godfather” of "Obamacare." It’s totally sarcasm, people — at least according to top Romney adviser Kevin Madden. “He was being facetious,” Madden told The Huffington Post in email. “He totally dismantled the policies behind Obamacare before and after it.” So, there you have it. The HuffPo story: http://huff.to/PEvoOG

--THE ROMNEY QUOTE: “First of all, I would repeal all of Obamacare and replace it with, I think, the kinds of reforms we really need. And I have experience in health care reform. Every now and then, the president says I’m the grandfather of Obamacare. I don’t think he meant that as a compliment, but I’ll take it. This was during my primary — we thought it might not be helpful. But I’ve actually been able to put in place a system that fit the needs of the people of my state. And I’m proud of the fact that in my state, after our plan was put in place, every child has insurance, 98 percent of adults have insurance, but we didn’t have to cut Medicare by $716 billion to do that. We didn’t raise taxes on health companies by $500 billion as the president did. So we crafted a program that worked for our state.”

ROMNEY: ‘OBAMACARE' IS CONSTITUTIONAL — Okay, Obama campaign, we get it. You took a bunch of Romney quotes out of context and made a Web video about it. Here’s what the campaign tweeted on Thursday: “Mitt Romney continues to take the President’s words out of context, so we returned the favor.” So yeah, there are a couple of snippets that make Romney sound pro-“Obamacare.” Like: “Obamacare is constitutional.” And: “Why don’t you like Obamacare? What is it that’s wrong with it?” The video: http://bit.ly/QFLpDx

ROGERS EYES BROKER BILL’S NEXT MOVE — Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), co-author of the bill exempting agent and broker commissions from the ACA’s medical loss ratio requirements, told PULSE he’s hoping for a House vote in the lame-duck session after the bill passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday. “I think you’ll find a more robust, bipartisan vote on the House floor,” Rogers predicted after Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), a bill co-sponsor, was the only committee Democrat to vote for the bill yesterday. John Greene, vice president of congressional affairs for NAHU, agreed on the possible timing of a House vote. “Once the election is over, there will be wiggle room to pass a few things like this,” he said.

--ALL YOU NEED IS ONE — NAHU, which says its members have lost jobs and seen commissions drastically reduced as a direct result of the MLR provision, celebrated the E&C vote on the Twitters yesterday afternoon. “The House Energy and Commerce Committee just approved H.R. 1206, ‘the Broker Bill’ by a bipartisan vote of 26-14!”

HAPPENING TODAY — The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee holds a 9:30 a.m. hearing on the status of the Medicare Advantage program and other health plans. … The American Osteopathic Association holds a health care forum on issues impacting physicians: http://bit.ly/nD5PDN. … The Georgetown University Law Center holds an all-day forum on the contraceptive coverage rule: http://bit.ly/OHEw8A.

HOME CARE LOBBIES THE HILL — The Direct Care Alliance, in partnership with Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice and the National Domestic Workers Alliance, are flooding the Hill today on a regulation guaranteeing home care workers minimum wage and overtime pay protections. The groups are trying to build lawmaker support for a proposed rule that would reverse home care workers’ exclusion from the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Obama administration proposed the rule back in December, but the groups are anxious to get it finalized this fall.

PRO FINANCE IS ONLY DAYS AWAY: POLITICO Pro Finance hits the ground running next week. Pro will deliver the latest news on the intersection of Washington and Wall Street throughout the day via breaking news alerts, quick Whiteboard items and in-depth journalism — plus invitations to subscriber-only events. Financial Services readers will get an enhanced version of Morning Money every day by 6 a.m. (Nonsubscribers will get the current version of Morning Money at 8 a.m.). Pro Tax readers will receive an exclusive newsletter intensely focused on tax policy. To learn more, contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.

An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, the third article in a series on “upcoding,” finds that hospitals added about $1 billion in Medicare costs between 2001 and 2008 through a huge increase in billing for emergency room care. http://bit.ly/Qpgk9v

The New York Times reports that life expectancy for white people with the least education is getting shorter. http://nyti.ms/ViXr90

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel sets up Paul Ryan’s speech to AARP by detailing what she calls the group’s “partisan role in passing ObamaCare.” http://on.wsj.com/QplD99

Kaiser Health News finds that the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and the Medicare prescription drug program — both cited by Mitt Romney and Ryan as model of market competition — haven’t held down costs as efficiently as Medicare. http://bit.ly/Oftjw8

The Denver Post’s Daily Dose blog examines how complicated it will be for exchanges to verify who’s eligible for subsidies. http://bit.ly/RFTvex

Writing in Health Affairs, Tim Jost looks at what Mitt Romney could do to stop the Affordable Care Act and concludes it would create “a messy situation.” http://bit.ly/Oft3NH

Voice of America reports on a study that looks at how nine developing nations in Asia and Africa are on their way toward providing universal health care. http://bit.ly/NFKg1d

E! Online has a clip of Homer Simpson voting for Romney — because “he did invent Obamacare.” http://eonli.ne/OIiAtV

** A message from PhRMA: Yesterday, John Castellani, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), discussed how the nation can support medical innovation, which is a key component of our economic and health future. Watch the highlights and become a part of the conversation at www.fromhopetocures.org. **

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel sets up Paul Ryan’s speech to AARP by detailing what she calls the group’s “partisan role in passing ObamaCare.”

OK, help me understand. It's OK for the Koch Brothers, corporations and the Catholic Church to have a partisan role, but it's not OK for AARP?

AARP does not have a PAC and does not endorse candidates. But they are still not allowed to support an issue important to their members? Maybe that's just because the Wall Street Journal doesn't like what they support.